Users do not know how to program their computers, nor do they care. They spend much more time and energy trying to figure out how to use them to program one another, instead. And this is a potentially grave mistake. Just as the invention of text utterly transformed human society, disconnecting us from much of what we held sacred, our migration to the digital realm will also require a new template for
maintaining our humanity. In this talk, Dr. Douglas Rushkoff — author of Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and the upcoming Present Shock, shares the biases of digital media, and what that means for how we should use and make them.

The Internet is fundamentally transforming the entire global economy by making it possible for anyone, anywhere to create services quickly and inexpensively and reach a global market immediately. The Internet has opened up markets and unleashed innovation at a scale never seen before. But now that freedom to innovate is being threatened.

A year ago, internet users fought back spectacularly to fend off PIPA and SOPA– two pieces of overreaching copyright legislation—and sent a clear message to policy makers that a frontal assault on Internet freedoms would not work. But no user can track all of the regulatory efforts to limit Internet freedom being put forward in international treaties, state capitals or municipal ordinances. Brad provides a model for evaluating the many efforts to “civilize” the Internet from the perspective of who is really helped and who is harmed by each new regulation.

ISOC-NY is again happy to sponsor Evan Korth’s Computers and Society Series at the Courant Institute at NYU. These talks are part of an undergraduate course, however ISOC-NY members and the public are free to attend – please register at the meetup links provided.

All talks from 3:30-4:45 in room 109 of 251 Mercer Street NYC on the following dates:

BLURB: Users do not know how to program their computers, nor do they care. They spend much more time and energy trying to figure out how to use them to program one another, instead. And this is a potentially
grave mistake. Just as the invention of text utterly transformed human society, disconnecting us from much of what we held sacred, our migration to the digital realm will also require a new template for
maintaining our humanity. In this talk, Dr. Douglas Rushkoff – author of Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and the upcoming Present Shock, shares the biases of digital media, and what that means for how we
should use and make them.

BLURB: The Internet is fundamentally transforming the entire global economy by making it possible for anyone, anywhere to create services quickly and inexpensively and reach a global market immediately. The
Internet has opened up markets and unleashed innovation at a scale never seen before. But now that freedom to innovate is being threatened.

A year ago, internet users fought back spectacularly to fend off PIPA and SOPA– two pieces of overreaching copyright legislation—and sent a clear message to policy makers that a frontal assault on Internet
freedoms would not work. But no user can track all of the regulatory efforts to limit Internet freedom being put forward in international treaties, state capitals or municipal ordinances. Brad will provide a
model for evaluating the many efforts to “civilize” the Internet from the perspective of who is really helped and who is harmed by each new regulation.

ARAM SINNREICH in “The Piracy Crusade: How the Music Industry’s War on Sharing Destroys Markets and Erodes Civil Liberties”

BLURB: The Piracy Crusade examines the music industry’s overreaction to the threat of digital piracty and the result damage done to our economy, culture and society. By exploring the unheralded benefits of
digital sharing and the “perfect storm” of economic factors that burst the industry’s bubble, Rutger’s University Media Studies Professor Aram Sinnreich challenges the commonly accepted myth that piracy is
killing the music industry.

In 2012 the Internet Society’s New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) will once again sponsor Evan Korth’s Computers & Society Speaker Series at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. This lecture series, part of an undergraduate course, are also open to the public (space is limited), and will be recorded for later webcast. The first talk, unfortunately, has had to be postponed due to the closing of NYU for the rest of this week – but it was to be Aram Sinnreich, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information, in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, speaking on the topic: “The Piracy Crusade: How the Music Industry’s War on Sharing Destroys Markets and Erodes Civil Liberties“.

You can still register at meetup.com and we will apprise you of the rescheduled date.

Blurb:
In the name of combating “digital piracy,” the music industry and its allies have spent billions of dollars to lobby for stronger copyright laws, shuttered hundreds of promising businesses, and sued tens of thousands of American internet users. Rutgers University Media Studies Professor Aram Sinnreich investigates the rationale behind these decisions, and explores their implications for free speech, civil liberties, and market innovation, in his soon-to-be published book, The Piracy Crusade. Ultimately, he argues, we are squandering our best hopes for a functional democracy and a thriving marketplace in the 21st Century in order to chase a phantom in an unwinnable war. Instead, we must focus on new laws, policies and economic models that reward and thrive on the free sharing of information in cyberspace and beyond.

Bio:
Aram Sinnreich is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information, in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. Sinnreich’s work focuses on the intersection of culture, law and technology, with an emphasis on subjects such as emerging media and music. He is the author of two books, “Mashed Up” (published in 2010), and “The Piracy Crusade” (to be published in 2013), and has written for publications including the New York Times, Billboard and Wired. Prior to coming to Rutgers, Sinnreich served as Director at media innovation lab OMD Ignition Factory, Managing Partner of media/tech consultancy Radar Research, Visiting Professor at NYU Steinhardt, and Senior Analyst at Jupiter Research. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Southern California, and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.